Port Reading, New Jersey.
Typical home $542,309 (+3.8% in a year). New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,655 (+139%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $19,770 +4%
- $522,539$542,309 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $161,721 +42%
- $380,588$542,309 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Port Reading$2,846
- New Jersey$3,019
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Port Reading, NJ rose 3.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Port Reading, Middlesex County, New Jersey
Port Reading, in Middlesex County, had 3,921 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $134,479 a year and half less, against $111,549 across Middlesex County; 4% of its people live below the poverty line. 97% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 3% are rented. Unemployment in Middlesex County was 4.8% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in shops, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Port Reading is a small community in Middlesex County where nearly everyone owns the home they live in. Households here earn more than the county's typical household, and fewer people live below the poverty line than you might expect. Residents are a little older than in many places, and a four-year degree is held by a minority of adults. Winters are cold, with January highs near freezing, and summers are warm, with July the warmest month. Snow falls most winters, and the year is a wet one overall.
Work. Many residents work in shops, in schools, hospitals and social care, in transport, warehouses and utilities, and in professional and business services. The commute is a long one for most people, and few work from home. Among the larger workplaces in Port Reading are Island Transportation Corp, a local tanker trucking company, USG, and the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities, which runs day programs for people with disabilities and for older adults. Across Middlesex County, unemployment is lower than a year ago, and the number of jobs has edged up slightly.
Things to do. Most of the well-known places to visit are a longer drive away. They include the Statue of Liberty, a tourist attraction, and the Hudson River. For museums and green space, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park are also a longer drive away. Day trips like these suit a full day out rather than a quick errand.
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- 1,107households
- 31%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 32 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Middlesex County had 431,665 jobs in 2025, 0.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 40° and lows near 25°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 68°. About 26 inches of snow and 50 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cranford weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Port Reading
- Island Transportation Corp - Port ReadingTanker trucking, local94
- USGReady mixjoint treatment87
- New Jersey Institute for DisabilitiesDay care centers for disabled persons, the elderly, and persons diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 206 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Port Reading’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Middlesex County and the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA metro.
Port Reading home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Port Reading$542,309
- New Jersey$575,123
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Port Reading11
Zip codes with a Port Reading address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Port Reading — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.